BBC’s Help for Heroes slur

THE BBC will today broadcast a humiliating network-wide apology for smearing
Help for Heroes on Newsnight.

An “investigation” by the flagship show last August accused the troops charity
of misspending its cash. It cost Help for Heroes more than £100,000 in
withdrawn donations, The Sun can reveal.

After a major internal probe, chiefs accept the scandal-hit programme’s
coverage was “misleading and unfair”. They agreed the 216-word “sorry” will
go out on all media that aired the report — on Radio 1 at 5pm, on Radio 2 at
5.45pm, on Newsnight on BBC2 at 11.20pm — and online.

The report by Angus Stickler — who almost brought down Newsnight by falsely
accusing Lord McAlpine of being a paedo — claimed H4H was “too cosy” with
the MoD and wasted millions. It also misrepresented the views of Diane
Dernie, the mother of badly wounded soldier Ben Parkinson.

The charity’s co-founders Bryn and Emma Parry said last night: “We are
grateful the BBC admitted it got the story completely wrong.” The Sun-backed
charity has doled out more than £150million since it began in 2007.